How Trump’s firings could upend a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling limiting his power – NPR

Politics
How Trump’s firings could upend a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling limiting his power
March 21, 20255:00 AM ET

Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday By Andrea Hsu, listen here:
https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5333325/nx-s1-5398282-1

President Trump’s firings this week of the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission drew fresh outrage from people who view the terminations as blatant abuses of power, and renewed assertions from the White House that the president has the authority to fire such officers at will.

Already, Trump’s removals of Democrats at the Merit Systems Protection Board, the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and other independent agencies have been challenged in federal court.

Now, it appears likely one of those cases will reach the Supreme Court. With several cases in the running, the question is which might get there first. The fired FTC commissioners have vowed to sue as well.

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Members of independent agencies fired by Trump

Jan. 27

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Fired Democratic Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels have not yet challenged their firings.

National Labor Relations Board
Democratic board member Gwynne Wilcox has since been reinstated by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell. The D.C. Circuit is weighing the Trump administration’s appeal.

Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Democratic members Travis LeBlanc and Edward Felten have challenged their firings. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has scheduled a hearing for April 30. Trump also fired Democratic Chair Sharon Bradford Franklin, but she did not challenge her firing.

Jan. 31

Federal Election Commission
Democratic Chair Ellen Weintraub has not yet challenged her firing.

Feb. 7

Office of Special Counsel
Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger was reinstated by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson and then removed again by the D.C. Circuit. On March 6, Dellinger ended his legal fight.

Feb. 10

Merit Systems Protection Board
Democratic member Cathy Harris has since been reinstated by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras. The D.C. Circuit is weighing the Trump administration’s appeal.

Federal Labor Relations Authority
Democratic Chair Susan Tsui Grundmann has since been reinstated by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan.

March 18

Federal Trade Commission
Democratic Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya say they will challenge their firings.

Read more: How Trump’s firings could upend a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling limiting his power – NPR

Sourcel Links: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/21/nx-s1-5333325/ftc-trump-firings-supreme-court